The Barrier

Edited by: ASaltedFish

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With Ellery and Aster feeling better, Akimitsu took them back to the control room, where Edros was waiting for them.

"Is everything okay now?" He didn't want to specify who he was asking because of their location, but Ellery knew Edros was mostly asking about Aster.

Ellery smiled knowingly. "Everything is good now."

Edros was relieved that Ellery had high emotional intelligence in moments like these.

"That's good. We are almost halfway to MPE60, so don't worry too much. Regardless of what happens, Akimitsu and I will be there for you." Even though it sounded a little awkward, his feelings were conveyed well to Ellery and Aster.

"Thank you, Edros. I appreciate it."

"It's no problem at all. Also, I got a message from your brother; he and Darya had found a small Sylv crystal mine near the Beast God's residence." He then whispered the rest of his sentence. "He was wondering if you wanted him to bring some back for Aster. I heard the quality of the Sylv crystals was a bit higher than the ones we got on my mining planet."

"You should check your messages because he tried to reach out to you and Akimitsu."

Ellery looked at his terminal and saw Orin and Darya trying to contact him; however, he was busy flirting with Akimitsu, so he didn't check his terminal. Orin decided to reach out to Edros because he couldn't contact him or Akimitsu.

"Okay, let me reply to him."

Quickly apologizing to his brother, Ellery told him to pick one of each color available and to make sure they were the prettiest ones! Aster deserved to have the best, of course. Plus, he wanted Aster to have a wide variety of crystals and rocks so he would never get bored looking at them.

Orin gave a thumbs up and told him to check his terminal more often. Afterward, he closed his terminal and went to Darya to find some Sylv crystals Aster would like.

With Ellery and Aster less anxious, they decided to get some sleep so they would feel rested for when they would meet the Beast God and their wife.

Hopefully, they would be able to meet the Beast God at least.

*****

Half a day later, the First Fleet finally arrived on MPE60.

Ellery, who was in charge of his body, followed Akimitsu and Edros off the spacecraft that landed near the base created by the scouts.

Orin and Darya were waiting for them with several boxes nearby.

"Ellery! Check out the Sylv crystals I got." Orin pointed at the stack of boxes. "Don't worry. I made sure to use plenty of cushions so they don't break."

"Thank you, Orin, Darya. I can't wait to see them!" Ellery said before looking over at Edros and Akimitsu.

"You two should go to the base and talk with the scout leader. I will meet you both there with Orin and Darya."

Orin patted his chest. "Don't worry, we will protect Ellery!"

Edros nodded and then excused himself with Akimitsu. They were not worried about Ellery because there weren't any Ineks, and they were the only ones on this planet. Well, the Beast God and their wife were here, but they hadn't seen them since landing on the MPE60.

"Okay, let's go check out the Sylv crystals. My favorite is this yellow Sylv crystal Darya found. From what I heard, there are no shades of brown, which is upsetting because I wanted one that was Darya's eye color…"

Darya also thought it was a shame, but at least she was able to find one that looked like Orin's eyes.

"It is unfortunate there are no brown Sylv crystals. I heard it was based on elements and their corresponding colors."

Ellery opened the box at the top of the stack and saw a beautiful but small red Sylv crystal.

Each Sylv crystal was only as big as the palms of his hands, but they were all super high quality with their clarity and richness in color. To him, there didn't seem to be any imperfections. Just like the planet they were on, it was perfect.

"Thank you, Orin and Darya, for picking out these beautiful Sylv crystals. Aster says he loves them."

"That's good!" Darya was relieved to know that Aster would be accepting the Sylv crystals.

If it's pretty – and there are good intentions behind the gift, Aster would be happy to accept them.

Orin and Darya helped Ellery bring the Sylv crystals into Aster's room, which was right next to Ellery's. They don't sleep in Aster's room, though, so it was mainly used as a storage place.

After that, the three of them met up with Edros and Akimitsu, who were talking with the Scout team's captain about MPE60. Seeing them, the captain of the Scout team greeted them before leaving because he was done talking with Edros and Akimitsu.

"Ellery, we need to figure out how to bypass the barrier…" Edros said while looking at the barrier. "One of the scouts tried to run through the barrier and was pushed back. He's injured, but there are no life-threatening injuries."

Ellery looked over at the barrier and sighed. "I guess finding the Beast God abode was the easier part."

Akimitsu, Orin, and Darya also looked at the barrier, trying to see if there were any cracks or entrances to the barrier, but it didn't seem like it.

"Has someone tried to dig under the barrier?" Akimitsu looked at the ground under the barrier.

Edros nodded. "It's like the barrier is one large bubble going underground and into the air. There's no entry point either."

"Edros, you are holding on to the knife that Naoyuki gave us, right?" Ellery asked, wondering if the knife would help them get through the barrier.

Edros nodded and took it out of his storage ring. "I tried using it earlier, but it didn't work for me."

"I'm holding the crystal ball, but it also didn't let me in…" Akimitsu grumbled, holding on to the box containing orb.

Was there really no way to get through this barrier? What else could they do?

After a few hours of trying to come up with ideas, Ellery decided it was time for everyone to take a break. Except for the Scout team, everyone else in the First Fleet was tired from constantly traveling through space.

Since it was dark, everyone went back into the spacecraft to eat and then go to sleep.

*****

The next day, Ellery woke up to someone knocking on his door. When he opened it, it was Akimitsu.

"Edros and your brother wanted me to wake you up so we can all eat together," Akimitsu said happily. He was a morning person, especially after getting a good night's rest.

"Okay, let me wash up. You can sit on my bed and wait for me." Ellery pointed to his bed before walking to the bathroom.

It didn't take long for Ellery to wash up and change his clothes. He walked out of the room with Akimitsu chatting about random things.

Edros, Orin, and Darya were already in the cafeteria. They haven't ordered anything because they wanted to wait for Ellery and Akimitsu.

They were able to order their food at their tables, so it didn't crowd up the areas around the kitchen. Serving robots grabbed their food and placed it in front of everyone correctly.

"So, after a night of thinking on it, has anyone come up with an idea to get through the barrier?" Orin questioned after finishing his food. He was a quick eater, so he was the first one to finish.

Edros, Akimitsu, and Darya shook their heads. They couldn't think of anything.

As for Ellery, he closed his eyes to talk with Aster.

'I'm thinking I should just yell loud enough for the Beast God to hear us and ask for permission to come in. Or just touch it ourselves. I've heard the Beast God has a soft spot for Guides, so there's no way he would hurt us, right?'

Aster was silent for several seconds before finally answering, [I understand where you are coming from, but what happens if you do get injured? I don't want you to get hurt.]

Ellery didn't like being in pain, but they didn't have any other options.

'I know, but we need to meet the Beast God. For us, but for you especially.'

[I understand… Then, I support you.]

After getting Aster's support, Ellery opened his eyes and saw everyone at the table staring at him. He sighed. "I have two ideas, but you will not like one of them."

"Bad idea first." Orin raised his eyebrow because he felt like he knew what Ellery was going to say.

"I was thinking of touching the barrier myself. So far, only Sentinels have touched the barrier, but I've heard that the Beast God has a soft spot for Guides because his wife was the first guide ever recorded. If the rumors are correct, he shouldn't hurt me."

"Rejected!" Edros and Akimitsu stated at the same time. If the barrier attacked indiscriminately, they didn't want Ellery and Aster to get hurt.

"I figured as much. The second thing we could try is to have me yell loud enough for the Beast God to hear us. Then I can politely ask if they would let us in. I would be holding the crystal ball and the knife, of course."

Darya didn't want Ellery or Aster to get hurt either, so she gave her opinion. "Let's try the latter first. The former will be our last option."

"I second that." Orin agreed with Darya because he felt that was reasonable.

"Okay, then after breakfast, I will try to call out to the Beast God and see if they would let us in…"

Ellery didn't want to think what would happen if these two ideas didn't work, but he couldn't help but be worried. The First Fleet couldn't stay on MPE60 for too long, so he could only hope that the Beast God would let them in soon.